Multimedia streams including audio and video are available from a wide variety of sources, including broadcast television, cable and satellite, digital versatile disc (DVD) players, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, personal computers, set-top boxes, and the like. Additionally, improvements in audio and video coding techniques coupled with high-speed network connections have made possible new applications such as streaming video, video “place-shifting”, and video on demand (VOD). As the number of sources of video content has increased, so has the number of displays on which to view that content. Advances in display technologies have led to the proliferation of inexpensive consumer devices with video playback capabilities including MP3 players, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and handheld computers, smartphones, and the like. Smaller, lighter displays also afford greater portability for computer monitors and televisions.
Direct-wired connections exist between many conventional sources and displays such as computer-to-monitor or DVD player-to-television. Networked connections exist in limited applications such as video place-shifting wherein, for example, video content from a set-top box is accessible by a personal computer or other device over a network connection. Wireless connectivity between a wide variety of source and display combinations is attractive due to the sheer number of potential source/display pairs and the desire for mobility.
Various wireless solutions exist for transmitting audio streams. Wireless speaker and headphone solutions may utilize, for example, radio frequency (RF) and Bluetooth. Wireless solutions also exist for computer keyboards and mice, either utilizing infra-red (IR) or Bluetooth to transmit control information. Audio data, video data, and control information all have differing requirements with respect to bandwidth, tolerable delay, and error resiliency. What is needed is a wireless solution for transmitting audio streams, video streams, as well as control information such as keyboard and mice commands as well as playback commands from a remote control.
Due to the popularity of WiFi networks, in particular IEEE 802.11 networks, WiFi is one possibility for a wireless solution for transmitting multimedia streams. The wireless solution should possess all the characteristics of wired connectivity with the advantage of mobility. The ideal required characteristics of such a solution are low delay, error resiliency, and no perceptible degradation in audio and video quality, and support for end-to-end communication protocols. For example, a wireless solution could extend high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connectivity up to 300 feet.
More generally, there is a need for a solution for connecting a wide variety of sources with a wide variety of displays over a network. The ideal solution would optimally utilize the particular characteristics of a specific network, monitor the conditions of the network, and adaptively adjust the encoding parameters of the multimedia stream. In order to provide high-quality video and high performance in a variety of applications, it would have very low latency.